Apparently, John Beilein doesn't watch ESPN

Or read BIAH.

If he did, we wouldn't have this problem (from AnnArbor.com, h/t The Dagger):

"That is really the biggest challenge right now," Beilein said. "Is to get a clear agenda of what are important issues. But you will be focusing on one issue and something real and very important can come up that nobody ever thought of before. I don't think there’s a science to this thing. We just have to chop away at being persistent in trying to identify the biggest problems."

Umm, I think we know the big issues, John.

Before I get into this, let me set up the back story for you.

You see, back in May, the NCAA set up a college basketball ethics committee, dubbed the NCAA Division I Men's basketball ethics coalition. It consists of 14 members - 11 current head coaches, two current assistants, and one former coach. Beilein is the chair.

And rightfully so. I dare you to find a coach that is better at taking the kids none of the other big boys want, the kids that fill a specific role for his team, and making them able to compete with schools loaded to the brim with all-americans and top 50 recruits.

In other words, he probably isn't out there tossing around stacks of benji's in envelopes to runners.

Back to the point, how is it possible that the chairman of college basketball's ethics committee does not know what the sport's "important issues" or "biggest problems" are?

All he needed to do was pay attention this summer: Derrick Rose, Tim Floyd, Renardo Sidney, Rick Pitino, Coach Cal, SE Missouri, and the countless issues with recruiting and youth basketball that came to light (see here, here, here, and here).

I don't mean to pick on Beilein here. I'm sure the quote was just the usual, media friendly, politically correct blandness coaches feed reporters all the time. In all seriousness, I really hope that this ethics committee can actually get something done. There is nothing that makes me happier than watching college basketball - whether it is the Big Monday's and College Gameday's or American playing Holy Cross in a Patriot League conference game on MASN. The passion displayed by the players, the coaches, and the fans in every game is beyond compare.

But college basketball has turned into a cesspool. The corruption involved with wooing prized recruits and keeping them on campus (and, more importantly, eligible to be on the court) has made it more and more difficult to watch without feeling like it is nothing more than a place to store potential pro's for a season or two.

I don't have the answer. I don't know how to fix it.

Hopefully, they will.